Charlotte Wood makes unpleasant territory her own.
The Natural Way Of Things
By Charlotte Wood (Allen & Unwin)
This is a haunting story I've found difficult to get out of my mind. It's dark, disturbing, quite brilliant and completely horrible. A group of young Australian women have been kidnapped and transported to a place deep in the Outback that is surrounded by an electrified fence. Their heads are shaved and they are dressed in outlandish costumes and held at the mercy of their mysterious captors. Gradually it becomes apparent that one thing links them - all have been at the centre of some sort of public sex scandal. The novel follows Verla and Yolanda, who forge a friendship that helps them survive the privations of a life in captivity where they are preyed on, starved and brutalised. The way they change, the shifting of minds and power, is at the core of a tale that is tough to read but impossible to stop reading. Wood marches through unpleasant territory with this novel and she makes it her own.
Reckoning: A Memoir
By Magda Szubanski (Text)
Australian Magda Szubanski is best known for playing Sharon in the TV comedy Kath & Kim but there is a lot more to her. This powerful memoir takes us deep inside her head and her history. From the casual brutalities of her Polish father's war experiences to her struggles with depression, bodyweight, self-confidence and sexuality, it's a page-turner. It helps that Szubanski can write but she's also an analytical and rather troubled person who is rarely easy on herself. Her autobiography reeks of raw honesty, in particular the sections dealing with her relationship with her late father. The quality of a memoir depends on how interesting a life the person writing it has had and Szubanski doesn't appear to do dull. She is articulate and likeable as she tries to reconcile herself with the many difficult aspects of her past. It's not especially funny, however - like many of those who make their living from comedy, she takes herself pretty seriously.
New Zealand Cafe Cookbook
By Anna King Shahab (Penguin)
This big, bright book celebrates our vibrant cafe scene, travelling the country from Northland to Dunedin visiting cool and quirky places, meeting the people who run them and sharing their signature recipes. It covers 50 spots in all, from Rawene's Boatshed cafe sitting out over Hokianga Harbour, to Auckland icon Bambina, Martinborough newcomer Pinocchio and Christchurch survivor C1 Espresso. With lavish photography it's as much about the design and vibe of each as it is about the food - in fact, as a book to cook from this is unashamedly uneven; a salad here, a slider there, a taco beside a tart. Rather than cook, I am inspired to eat my way around the country. I'd particularly like to breakfast on a dish called The Spaniard at the Raumati Social Club - a potato rosti topped with tomato sauce, chorizo, spinach and a poached egg. For any food-lover heading on a road trip this summer, it's worth making space for this book when you're packing.
The Dust That Falls from Dreams
By Louis de Bernieres (Harvill Secker)
As a de Bernieres virgin (and seemingly the only person on the planet to have not read the 1994 epic Captain Corelli's Mandolin) I didn't know what to expect from The Dust That Falls From Dreams. Centred on the life of the eccentric upper-middle class McCosh family up to and during the Great War, the book provides a gut-wrenching view of the horrors of conflict from a very personal perspective. Rosie McCosh, the beautiful eldest daughter in a family of four girls, is the linchpin of the story; her romantic liaisons with two neighbours underpin the novel's themes of love, loss and the search for happiness in the wake of tragedy. A classic page-turner, The Dust That Falls From Dreams offers insights in the machinations of war.
• Review by journalist Joanna Mathers.
Lullaby
By Bernard Beckett (Text)
New Zealand author Bernard Beckett returns with another mind-bending young adult offering. Rene's twin brother Theo lies in a hospital bed, unconscious and with massively disrupted brain function. A risky experimental procedure is on offer - a chance for Rene to save Theo's life but what is the cost of that chance? Lullaby is an amazingly complex novel, exploring the nature of identity and shared memories as well as how we shape the story of ourselves. The questions it raises stay with the reader for a long time after the book is finished.
• Review by Ngaire Atmore who blogs about books at www.bookiemonster.co.nz
Fairy House
By Mike and Debbie Schramer (Familius)
Never mind about the painstaking craft of making fairy houses for your family's garden, simply flicking through the pages of Fairy House by Mike and Debbie Schramer is fun for kids. The book details how to make fairy furniture, miniatures and plenty more from natural materials such as twigs and bark. For a non-crafty person, it all seems much too fabulous to be easily made by a layperson. But the full-colour photographs and clearly set-out instructions make me think I could attempt to make the beautiful miniatures for our garden.
• Review by journalist and author Danielle Wright.
Lots of authors have Twitter accounts but who to follow? Worth a look are Joanne Harris who shares great writing tips, smart, outspoken Joyce Carol Oates and Jennifer Weiner if only because she's so prolific.
Pulitzer prize-winning author Geraldine Brooks' latest novel is The Secret Chord. She is touring New Zealand next month. Find event details at hachette.co.nz
The book I love the most is...The Norton Anthology Of Poetry because there's always a wonderful new poem to discover. I dip into it nearly every day.
The book I'm reading right now is...Skyfaring: A Journey With A Pilot by Mark Vanhoenacker. It's a very poetic account of piloting a 747.
The book I'd like to read next is...My Name Was Judas by C.K. Stead because it's a bit similar to what I have tried to do in The Secret Chord and I'm curious to see how Stead approached the problem.
My favourite bookshop is...Powell's City of Books in Portland, Oregon, because used books are shelved alongside new ones, and the store is vast.
The book that changed me is...Pilgrim At Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard because it forced me to look at the natural world and that has become a sustaining passion.
The book I wish I'd never read is...I was going to say The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, because the writing is dreadful and the polemics insufferable, but I'm quite glad I read it, so I have the right to hold that opinion.
NY Times: The onetime social media superstar re-emerged as rookie pop star of the year.